Alex Trebek accidentally calls reigning ‘Jeopardy!’ champion ‘Jessica Rabbit’ after mispronouncing the first name of another contestant
- Alex Trebek mistakenly referred to the reigning champion of Jeopardy!, Jessica Babbitt as ‘Jessica Rabbit,’ the character from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’
- Babbitt has earning two-day winning of $46,598
- Viewers took to Twitter to take note of the mistake
- Trebek also mispronounced another contestant’s first name as ‘Doo-Wee’ rather than the proper pronunciation of ‘Dewi (Day-Wee)
- Trebek made fun of himself at the show’s end by mispronouncing his own name, ‘This is Alex ‘Rebek’ saying goodbye until tomorrow’
Alex Trebek mistakenly called a recent Jeopardy! contestant ‘Jessica Rabbit,’ in a rare departure from his usually accurate professional broadcasting style.
Following the latest victory of reigning Jeopardy champion Jessica Babbitt, Trebek accidentally referred to her as Jessica Rabbit, a cartoon character from the famed 1990s movie ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit.’
‘Jessica Rabbit, you’re going to wrap up the week with us having earned $46,598,’ Trebek said, after the contestant won the show’s final round.
Babbitt laughed along with the mistake before Trebek correcting the pronunciation of her name.
‘And your last name is not ‘Rabbit,’ it’s ‘Babbitt.’ This is not my day for names,’
She responded: ‘It’s a common mistake.’
Alex Trebek mistakenly calls reigning Jeopardy champ ‘Jessica Rabbit’ which closely resembles her real name Jessica Babbitt
Reigning Jeopardy! champ Jessica Babbitt, who has won $46,598 in two-day earnings, was laughing after host Alex Trebek misprounces her name
Earlier in the show, Trebek mispronounced the first name of contestant Dewi (Day-Wee) Harjanto as ‘Doo-Wee’
The mistake followed a moment earlier in the show’s broadcast when Trebek mispronounced the first name of contestant Dewi Harjanto as ‘Doo-Wee.’
‘Dewi (Day-Wee), I’ve been mispronouncing your name, but I’m sure I’m not the first person who has done that over the years,’ Trebek said. ‘My apologies to you.’
Trebek poked fun at himself for making the mistakes by mispronouncing his own name while signing off the show.
‘This is Alex ‘Rebek’ saying goodbye until tomorrow,’ he joked.
After the on-air hiccups from Trebek, viewers flooded Twitter with a torrent of references to the mistake.
‘Jessica Rabbit? I love Alex. #Jeopardy’
‘Omg Alex called her Jessica Rabbit my life is complete #Jeopardy’
‘Did he just call the champ Jessica Rabbit? #Jeopardy’
‘Alex Trebec calling the champion Jessica Rabbit on accident (her name is Jessica Babbitt) made my day so much better! @Jeopardy’
‘OMG Alex called her Jessica Rabbit my life is complete #Jeopardy’
‘Did you watch Jeopardy this evening? Alex Trebeck congratulated tonight’s winner. Her name is Babbit, he called her Jessica Rabbit, she even has red hair. Lol!’
In early 2019, the 79-year-old game show host revealed he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Last week, Trebek released a video where he celebrated going past the one-year survival rate normally given to people with stage-4 cancer diagnosis.
‘Hi, everyone. If you’ve got a minute I’d like to bring you up to date on my health situation. The one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is 18 percent. I’m very happy to report I have just reached that marker,’ Trebek said in a video.
Trebek, however, is not in remission from his prostate cancer.